


Michelle of Min-y-Mor

by Sangerin



Category: Abbey Girls - Oxenham
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Guides and Scouts, Special Friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-03-27
Updated: 2010-03-27
Packaged: 2017-10-08 09:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangerin/pseuds/Sangerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Notes:  Yes, I killed off an inconvenient male character.  It's nothing EJO didn't do herself… *cough*Andrew Marchwood*cough*.  Begins about four months after the opening of <i>Fiddler from the Abbey</i>, and continues beyond the beginning of <i>Rachel in the Abbey</i>.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Brother and Sister

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: Yes, I killed off an inconvenient male character. It's nothing EJO didn't do herself… *cough*Andrew Marchwood*cough*. Begins about four months after the opening of _Fiddler from the Abbey_, and continues beyond the beginning of _Rachel in the Abbey_.

Nell Masterman hurried home through the darkening London streets. Her brother would probably be waiting for her by this time, for they were expected for dinner at the home of a great friend of his. But Nell worked in an office, and a new piece of work had been given to her at the end of the afternoon, and she had needed to stay later than usual to sort out what she would need to do the next day. She was a conscientious girl; she and her brother shared a London flat, and she kept house for him as well as keeping up her office job. She was a Guide - her brother was a Scoutmaster - and when they weren't camping with their charges, brother and sister would go tramping about the countryside on weekends or when they could get leave from their work. Nell also did country dancing when she had time; her Guides loved learning the dances she taught them, and she loved the energy of the dancing and the lilting beauty of the music. So it was a healthy, pink-cheeked Nell who ran up the stairs to greet her brother.

'You've just time for some tea,' he said. 'I've thrown together a pot - it's all laid out,' he added.

'Good man,' exclaimed Nell. 'I'm simply aching for tea.'

'Why are you so late?'

Nell poured herself a cup of tea and sat down in her fireside chair with a sigh. 'People will leave important work until the very last minute, and they forget that their part of it isn't all there is. So I shall be spending all day tomorrow going over other people's book-keeping, trying to find the details that I need to know to finish a report that a third person has written. Honestly, Charlie, it's a wonder I have any hair left at all!'

Charles Masterman looked at his sister's thick curls and chuckled. 'Oh, you've plenty left as far as I can see. Anyway, forget about work and get ready to enjoy tonight. Mike and Maribel are always good fun. And if I know you girls you'll go off together to worship little Marilyn Rose.'

'Mari-Rose will be quite six months old by now,' said Nell. 'You're right, I'm simply longing to see Baby. And 'Bel's such good fun. I want her advice about my girls, too.'

'Problems with the Company? You've not mentioned anything.'

'Oh, it's nothing to trouble you with. But 'Bel must have come across it in her long history as a Lieutenant. Besides, I'm sure that given half a chance, you and Mike will go off planning this summer's Jamboree, and what are Bel and I supposed to do then? Maribel may be a wife and proud mother, and I may keep house for you and keep that office of mine from falling apart at the seams, but we're still Guides, and we don't like being left out!'

'Will you girls be reminding us of Crystal Palace forever?' exclaimed Charlie, for this was familiar banter between the two of them.

'Quite likely!' returned Nell. 'Clear the table, will you, Charlie? I'm going to change my frock, then I'll dash through the washing up before we leave.'

'Right-oh,' replied Charlie, who was well aware of the work his sister did to make their flat comfortable, and after he had cleared the table and put away the various crocks, he put his scout training to use and happily turned to washing the dishes. When Nell returned to the kitchen, had only to wipe the dishes and put them away, before brother and sister were ready for their evening out.

Maribel Marchwood greeted them at the door to the Marchwoods' comfortable townhouse. She kissed Nell in greeting, and waited for Charlie to finish paying the taxi driver, before leading them through the door and taking their wraps. 'Quite the accomplished hostess,' said Nell.

'Given Mike's side of the family, do you expect anything less?' retorted Maribel. Her husband, Michael, was first cousin to a baronet, with a manor house in Oxfordshire, and Maribel's circle of friends and relations stretched all the way to the Earl and Countess of Kentisbury. 'Now, do you want to see the nursery first, Nell? I know Mike wants to talk Jamboree with Charlie. If we give them a chance to get it all out of his sytem at the beginning of the evening, we may be able to get some sensible conversation out of them later on.'

'Slander!' exclaimed Mike Marchwood, standing at the door of the drawing room. 'Never mind my wife, Charlie, we both know there's no conversation so sensible as planning camps for our boys.'

'I've already had Nell reminding me of Crystal Palace,' said Charlie.

'Good form, Nell!' said Maribel. 'Come see the newest generation of Girl Guides,' she said, and bore Nell off in the direction of the nursery, leaving Charlie and Mike grinning at the foot of the stairs.

Nell cooed appreciatively over Maribel's newest daughter. Marilyn Rose was six months old, fair-haired and placid, and used to being adored by her mother's friends. Maribel's older daughter was ready for bed, and so Nell stayed with Maribel while she bathed and dressed little Marigold and put her to bed.

'Mari-Rose is growing so fast,' said Nell in wonderment.

'They do that,' said Maribel, from the vantage point of a proud mamma of two. 'No wishes for a baby or two of your own yet, Nell?'

'No fear. I'd have to find a man I could leave Charlie for, and you haven't seen Charlie's puppy-dog eyes when he starts thinking of life without his housekeeper.'

'He's a Scout, he can manage,' said Maribel firmly. 'Anyone on the horizon for him?'

'Just his fairy princess,' said Nell.

'A fairy princess? Whatever do you mean?'

'Elsa of Brabant. Oh, Maribel, I'm not mad!' Nell exclaimed, as Maribel looked at her incredulously. 'Her name is Elsa Dale, she ran a ferry down in the Sandylands - Charlie takes credit for the ferry, actually. You really ought to ask him the story, although then he'll know that I told you about Elsa. She runs tours of the stalactite caves on the Island, now. She discovered them after she started the ferry up. They're meant to be almost as good as the Cheddar caves. Charlie met her two summers ago, and ever since, his Scout camps have been as near to Hillside and the Sandylands as he can decently make them.'

'But why Elsa of Brabant?'

'She called him Lohengrin to begin with - it's to do with the ferry. And he was with the White Swan patrol at the time.'

'A boat drawn by a white swan - I see,' said Maribel. 'But three years is a long time to stay keen on someone when there's no hope of it going further. Or is there?'

'Hope? I haven't the faintest idea. I haven't seen Elsa in some time. She's a lovely girl, but I've got my own Company to look after now; I can't simply traipse around after Charlie the way I used to do.'

'And a good thing, too,' said Maribel, 'both for your girls and for you. Come down to dinner. Let's hope the boys are all planned out by now.'

The 'boys' had indeed finished their discussions about the great Scout Jamboree they were to run that coming summer, and the four sat down to dinner with just a little teasing between husband and wife and brother and sister, until dessert had been served, and Mike mentioned that Charlie had been suggesting Sandylands for the coming Jamboree.

At this, Nell and Maribel shared a significant glance, which Mike did not miss. 'Charlie, what are you up to?' he demanded.  
Charlie raised his hands, as though he was fending off an attack from Nell and Maribel. 'I've done nothing, Mike. I've no idea why they…'

'No idea?' exclaimed Nell. 'When you know you keep planning Scout camps for the Sandylands so that you can go visit Elsa of Brabant? Charlie Masterman, you tell Scout Mike the truth!'

'Elsa of Brabant?' asked Mike. 'I say, Charlie, I agree with your sister. I used to be your Leader, you know. I expect you to tell me what's going on. "Loyal and Trustworthy", remember.'

'Might I have some coffee while I tell my tale, Missus Maribel?' asked Charlie plaintively. 'Be kind to a poor boy?'  
Nell grinned, first at her brother and then at Maribel, pouring out Charlie's coffee. 'Do you see what I meant about his puppy-dog eyes?'

'I do, Nell. I pity you.'

'Oh, _will_ you girls stop!' said Mike. 'I want to know what the lad means by talking about princesses.'

'Only one princess,' Charlie protested, 'and even that's just a nickname. She started off by calling me Lohengrin…' and Charlie told the story of how he had first met Elsa Dale, while he and his troop had been camping in the Sandylands.  
When the tale was finished, Mike sat sipping his coffee thoughtfully. 'You like this girl, Nell?' he asked.

'Quite a lot,' replied Nell. 'She's perfectly jolly. Her elder sister is Daphne Dale – the dancer from the Antoine, you know, but Elsa loves her little bungalow on the sands, and is quite happy there. And since she found the caves, her life has been easier than it initially looked like being.'

'Maribel, what do you think of all this?' asked Mike.

'I've heard it for the first time tonight, dear,' said Maribel from the opposite end of the table. 'But if Charlie doesn't object… we haven't seen these caves of Miss Elsa Dale. Don't you think it might be a nice excursion for us – and Nell and Charlie – to go down to the Sandylands and this island for a day, and have tea at the bungalow, and meet Charlie's Miss Elsa. Nell, dear, what did you say the name of the island was?'

Nell was trying hard not to laugh at Maribel's sudden transformation into a sweet little wife. 'Caer Ogo.'

'I believe we should plan a visit to Caer Ogo, Mike.'

'Jolly good plan,' said Mike, barely managing not to laugh himself. 'What about it, Charlie?'

'Can I do anything to stop you?' Charlie asked.

'No,' chorused the other three in unison.


	2. Four for Caer Ogo

On the very next fine weekend that contained neither Scouting nor Guiding commitments, Mike and Maribel Marchwood drove up to the building where Nell and Charlie lived, and played a veritable tattoo on the horn. The front door opened and Nell came out, a wicker picnic basket on one arm, for they intended to stop along the way for eats, and they all preferred a picnic to trying to find a suitable restaurant at the exact moment that hunger struck.

'Where's Charlie?' asked Mike, as Nell stowed her basket.

'He's coming. I've had to chivvy him along enough already today: I'm not calling after him again!'

'Don't tell me he's nervous!' exclaimed Maribel.

'Wouldn't you be?' asked Mike. 'If a party of your friends was being arranged for the sole purpose of visiting a girl you were keen on?'

'I wouldn't know,' replied Maribel, 'never having been in that situation.'

Nell and Maribel were laughing merrily when Charlie vaulted himself from the door, down the steps, and into the car. 'Let's go if we're going,' he said, gruffly. Wisely, Mike put the car in gear and rolled away, while Nell asked after Mari-Rose and Marigold.

They made good time through the countryside towards Somerset, stopping for their picnic lunch amid great mirth, for Charlie had recovered his good humour and kept the whole party in laughter with tales of his small Scouts on their last camp. Many of Charlie's boys had their first experience of country life on Scout camps, and the resulting stories were both amusing and sadly touching to the four young people whose lives had involved both the town and the countryside in nearly equal measure.

Early in the afternoon Mike pulled the car up behind the little cottage that Nell pointed out on the edge of the sands. To one side was the stream that ran inland to the village of Hillside, and before them were the wide sands, the island, and beyond that, a greyish glimpse of the Welsh coast far in the distance.

'Caves and then tea, I think,' said Mike, closing the door of the car and setting off across the sands with a firm step.

'And fairy princesses,' added Maribel softly to Nell, who grinned in response.

'We'll have to meet the fairy princess in order to get to the caves,' said Nell. 'I believe she has a little boy to run the ferry, but Elsa is the Tour Guide.'

Mike reached the side of the river and the little boat that lay on the sandy bank. Beside the boat was a boy of about twelve, who had jumped to attention when he saw the party of people coming. Mike spoke briefly to the boy, then turned and hailed the others with a shout. When they reached him he said, 'Billy here tells me Miss Elsa is across at the caves as we expected. He'll take us across and set us on the right path to the caves, and then he'll come back and warn Miss Barker at the house that there will be an extra four at tea.'

Billy pushed the boat from the sands into the river, and held it while Charlie handed Maribel and Nell in, and then leapt in himself. Mike asked Billy, 'Are you right to push off, old chap?' and at Billy's nod, jumped in. Billy pushed the boat out into the stream, and then deftly settled down with his oars to row them across to the island.

On the other side, Mike and Charlie helped the girls out, and then stood on the bank, carefully listening to Billy's directions to the caves.

'You go along the dykes to the island, and then go all the way across to the south side of the island. Shepherd's Combe, is what we call the little bay there. The entrance has a sign, and Miss Elsa will be there. You're the only party of… the only party we've had this afternoon, so she won't be gone.'

Maribel and Nell grinned at each other. 'He meant to say "trippers", of course,' said Nell as they followed the boys along the high dyke that would bring them to the island proper.

'Well, we're not entirely friends of the family,' said Maribel.

'You may not be,' said Nell, 'But Charlie and I take full credit for helping the girls.'

'The girls? But Daphne Dale is in the Antoine, with Mary Damayris.'

'Yes, Daphne is. I meant Michelle – oh, haven't I spoken of her? She's Elsa's friend, who does the Mickey Teas back at the cottage. Very quiet, and always in the background, but she seems really steady, and a good companion for Elsa. She couldn't live out on the sands by herself, of course.'

By now they were approaching Shepherd's Combe, and Charlie, unaccountably, fell back from where he had been walking with Mike to talk to the two girls.

Nell and Maribel shared a smile. 'I do believe Lohengrin is nervous!' exclaimed Maribel. 'A fine Scout you are, sir.'

Nell took pity on her brother. 'Scouts only have to deal with boys. Princesses are something else entirely.'

They rounded a corner and came upon the entrance to the caves, and a girl who was sitting quietly on a chair beneath a tree, reading. She stood up as they approached, and Nell raised a hand to wave.

'Elsa, dear, we've come to visit and brought friends!'

'Why, Miss Lohengrin,' said Elsa, with a quiet smile. 'And Lohengrin himself. It's lovely to see you again, Mr Masterman,' she finished, shaking his hand, and then Nell's.

'These are our friends, Mr and Mrs Marchwood,' Nell said. 'Mike, Maribel: Miss Elsa Dale.'

'Marchwood?' said Elsa. 'Are you related to the kind people who adopted Mary Damayris and her sister? The families from the Manor and the Abbey?'

Maribel smiled. 'Mike's cousin, Ken. But if you're talking about adopting, that would be Lady Marchwood – and Lady Quellyn. All the family, really.'

Mike grinned. 'You've done some adopting yourself, Bel.'

'You know Damaris and Rachel then, Miss Dale?' asked Maribel. 'Oh, but of course you would – your sister!'

Elsa nodded. 'Is in the Antoine with Damayris.' She put her book down on the chair and stood aside from the cave entrance. 'Welcome to my fairyland, Mr and Mrs Marchwood,'

'Oughtn't you to go first?' asked Maribel.

'It's all well lit,' explained Elsa. 'No torches required. I check it each morning when I get here and turn on the lights, to make sure everything is working properly, and of course I have a torch with me. But it will be a better effect if you go first. Mr Masterman and his sister have seen the caves before; they can follow me.'

Before she preceded Elsa into the caves, Maribel turned and looked at Nell. Nell saw the look, but didn't respond, but as Elsa showed them through the fairyland of stalactites and stalagmites, and explained salts and crystals and how the lights were placed to best illuminate the cave's features, Nell watched her old friend closely.

When the tour was over, Nell moved quickly to Elsa's side. 'Do say you've time to come back and have tea and Mickeys with us. I'll be glad to see Michelle again, but I'd much prefer it if you could join us.'

Elsa laughed, although Nell thought she heard some tiredness beneath the mirth. 'Poor Miche – don't say such a thing in her hearing.' She picked up her book from the chair. 'As long as Billy has no one waiting for me when we reach the ferry, I'll be glad to join you.' She hooked her hand in the crook of Nell's arm as they walked back across the island. 'I don't see you nearly often enough, Miss Lohengrin. What is it that keeps you so busy?'

'Looking after Mr Lohengrin,' replied Nell. 'And my Guides, and office work.'

'But I've seen Lohengrin three times for every time I see you,' replied Elsa.

'I don't tramp about after him as I used to,' said Nell. 'And as we're sharing rooms in Town, it is nice to have some time away from him occasionally. When he and Mike go off on jamboree, if I don't have Guides, I stay with Maribel and her little girls and we have a wonderful time together.'

'I'm glad you aren't left all alone,' said Elsa. There was an odd note in her voice that made Nell look closely at her, but before she could say anything, they had reached the ferry and Mike was handing the girls in. Billy steered them deftly to the other side, where Elsa jumped out and ran ahead of the rest to warn Michelle that her Mickies would be wanted in great quantity.

'She's simply lovely,' said Maribel to Nell. 'Oh, don't worry, Mike's given Charlie the same opinion already. We thoroughly approve.'

'Charlie will be relieved. There's something queer about her though, Maribel,' said Nell. 'Beneath all her jolliness, she's terribly sad. And I've no idea why.'

'Poor kid,' said Maribel. 'I'll take your word for it, of course, but I'd never have guessed there was a single thing wrong. And those caves!' she added. 'I simply must bring my Guides down here some time soon. Especially if these Mickies are as good as you say.'

'Better,' said Nell decidedly. 'And there's the Mickie-cook herself,' she said, waving a hand at Michelle, who with Elsa was beginning to set out their tea in front of the little house on the sands.

'Come to tea, everyone,' called Michelle. 'I've Mickies fresh from the oven.'

'Jolly good show,' said Charlie. 'I'm ravenous.'


End file.
